Professor Maxibillion III has passed away, and his American nephew, Rock
Carrington, is set to inherit $1 billion – but he won't see one cent of it
unless he solves a lot of puzzles and finds all the pieces of the professor's
will. This graphic adventure starts with Rock standing outside the professor's
mansion. There are many objects to be found, and a system of windows and icons
is used to pick them up, drop them and use them. Although the graphics and sound
effects are nothing special, the adventure is very easy to get into once you've
deactivated the mansion's alarm system; fortunately, the Professor has left a
notebook containing lots of subtle clues. It's not the most taxing of
adventures, but it is a lot of fun to play.

8

I'm afraid I don't know what the story behind this one is, but I'm sure there's
an evil alien baddie who's going to take over the galaxy in there somewhere.
It's a standard horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up, but despite the pretty good
graphics and a sweet tune on the menu screen, the game is very difficult; I
cannot get past the first level. The playing area is too small, and there are so
many alien formations that it's easy to forget what's coming next. There are
also a lot of other obstacles which get in your way.

6

This is a Galaxian clone that really isn't very good at all. The aliens
that you'll meet include bog-standard spaceships and eggs that mutate into
bat-like creatures, and by the fifth wave, you come face to face with the
Megaphoenix itself – and it's rather nasty. The graphics are impressive and the
techno music is quite marvellous, but getting past the first two waves seems to
be a matter of luck, which isn't fair. The shield you get is nearly useless,
too.

4

Get into a spaceship and blast lots of aliens in a quest to save the whole
galaxy. This is a standard vertically scrolling space shoot-'em-up – nothing
that you haven't seen before. It's a matter of learning the formations and how
best to deal with them, as well as the much larger aliens at the end of each
level. The graphics are marvellous, although the music and sound effects aren't
so impressive. As shoot-'em-ups go, it's not that bad, although there are only
four levels, and power-ups are few and far between.

7

A former US president has been kidnapped while touring central Africa, but
instead of sending in an army, the American government has chosen an
élite group of mercenaries headed by yourself to rescue him. You must
shoot and blast your way through eight levels of non-stop mayhem as soldiers
fire at you from all sides. It's a fairly standard shoot-'em-up, but a rather
good one. There are lots of weapons to be collected, and there's a good variety
of end-of-level opponents to be blown apart as well. The graphics are clear and
colourful, the music is OK (but not brilliant), and the difficulty level is
just about perfectly set. This is a game that is well worth checking out.

8

In Merlin, you are tasked with collecting all the sacred objects that have
been scattered among various screens. Each screen is essentially a small,
maze-like layout that contains a few of these items. The solitary guardian found
on each screen that chases you can pass through all matter – very frustrating at
times. There are no weapons or spells to combat this threat, and frustration will
gradually increase. The graphics are colourful, but the two sprites on screen do
have a wooden look when moving around. This game is a very poor rip-off of
Sorcery that looks and feels like a type-in listing.

3

Myrtle isn't a typical gorgeous, sexy mermaid; she's a tubby, overweight mermaid
and has seen Gormless Gordon the diver. Unfortunately for Myrtle, Gordon doesn't
want to marry her and runs into the sea, with Myrtle chasing him. However,
Gordon becomes stuck underwater and as Myrtle, you only have a short time to
find him and rescue him. This is an arcade adventure where you collect objects
and use them to access other areas of the map. While the graphics are great and
have a nice cartoon feel, and the music is also atmospheric, the gameplay is
frustrating – Myrtle can be difficult to control, and it's far too easy to get
stuck together with one of the many sea creatures and lose a lot of your energy.

6

General Ironside and his Metal Army have infiltrated Slough nuclear power
station, planted a bomb in it, and threatened to blow it up. As Harry Chainsaw
(nice name), you have to deactivate the bomb, but the Metal Army are going to
make this rather difficult for you, and because they've wrecked some parts of
the station, you also have to dodge the leaks of toxic coolant gas. You'll need
to collect the green cards which are lying about in order to open some doors,
including the ones to the room where the bomb is stored. It's standard platform
fare, and frustrating as well; although you have nine lives, they are quickly
lost, and getting out of the first room takes some practice. The graphics are
colourful, but it's a shame that the game is so difficult.

6

Asteroids has always been a classic game, and this is a simple remake of
it, although apart from the graphics, nothing new has been added to it. The aim
is simply to blast all the meteors off the screen, but when you shoot a meteor,
it splits into two more meteors, and these meteors will also split into two
meteors, so there will be problems if you shoot randomly! Your spaceship is also
difficult to control, and getting out of a tricky situation where a barrage of
meteors is heading your way requires some skill. However, there's nothing
exciting about this game; the screen is far too small, there is only one (yes,
one) sound effect, and you can't shoot accurately.

4

Inside an asteroid is a labyrinthine complex known as Metaplex, where the evil
Garth is planning to destroy Earth. You must assassinate Garth, but first you
must weaken him by dropping acid on four power units scattered around the
complex. You must first find a flask, then find the tank of acid so you can fill
the flask before you can destroy a power unit. The complex contains numerous
aliens which will deplete the shield of your craft; if your shield runs out then
you must find a new craft. There are also security control units which will
activate or disable certain doors and barriers, but there are so many
combinations that it needlessly makes the game more complicated than it should
be. The graphics are relatively poor, and the size of the labyrinth makes this
a tedious, run-of-the-mill game.